The state Department of Mental Health is seeking $2.5 million in the state budget to remodel portions of the Main Building at Moccasin Bend Mental Health Institute, while closing the Winston Building.
Officials said the plan is to go from 172 to 142 patients at Moccasin Bend, but the department’s funding move apparently signals that it is committed to the Moccasin Bend site for the time being.
Mental Hospital is at the toe of historic Moccasin Bend just across from the north end of Lookout Mountain. Photo by Michael Locke
In connection with a possible national park on historic Moccasin Bend, there has been discussion about whether the mental hospital should be moved.
Meanwhile, Chickamauga Park Supt. Pat Reed said he is no longer requiring that the hospital and the golf course be closed within a decade of the park opening.
He said the Park Service would be willing to work in establishing the park on other portions of the Bend and grandfather those properties in at a later date if they cease to be used for those purposes.
Mental Health Commissioner Elisabeth Rukeyser attended a Moccasin Bend Mental Institute board meeting Tuesday and told of the funding request as part of her overall budget.
She said patients and staff would be better off with all the patients in one facility “rather than straddling two buildings.”
Mental Health Commissioner Elisabeth Rukeyser is shown with Bill McAfee, left, and Moccasin Bend Hospital Administrator Russell Vatter.Officials said they did not know what would happen to the Winston Building. The move is expected to take some two years.
Rep. Bill McAfee, who heads the Moccasin Bend board, said he is not wedded to the Moccasin Bend site, but said there needs to be such a facility somewhere in Hamilton County.
He said he would be happy to have a new hospital at the VAAP property or elsewhere, but he said if the federal government wants the land at the Bend for a park it should provide financial help in constructing a replacement facility.
Rep. Zach Wamp has been holding up on introducing a bill in Congress to set up the park until issues such as the hospital and golf course were resolved.